The present invention relates to devices used to seal or confirm the closure of objects wherein the seal can be made tamper resistant by placing it within aligned apertures formed in parts of the article desired to be sealed.
Seals presently being used for this purpose are generally made of molded plastic with a socket formed on one end of a strap and a stud formed on the other end. The socket is adapted for locking non-removable engagement when the strap is doubled over and the stud is pushed into the socket. Examples of this type of seal are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,466,077 and 4,001,919. One embodiment of this type of seal has the stud protruding above a medial portion of the strap with a hole in one end of the strap and a socket in the other. In this embodiment, the end of the strap with the hole is placed through the aperture in the article to be sealed and then doubled back and slipped over the stud. The socket end is then folded over and placed in locking arrangement over the stud to keep the end of the strap with the hole from being removed. This arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,441,233. The common aspect of all of these devices is that the seal is formed outside of the aperture or apertures of the article to be sealed, with the strap being placed through the aperture or apertures.
These strip type seals have proven useful in sealing objects such as mail sacks and railroad or truck doors where it is easy to place the strap in the aperture desired to be sealed. They are useful only if two or more apertures are not to be held in close proximity of each other. However, they are difficult to feed through and wind around apertures that have little hand clearance. Moreover, these prior art devices generally require a two step molding operation in order to make a socket with a solid head. The second step is needed to bend over portions of the socket or install a cap on the socket so that tamperers cannot place picks in the socket from the back side and pry back the locking fingers in the socket, thus allowing the socket to release and the object to be rifled.
Other problems with the prior art include the inability to disclose tampering by the clean cutting of the strap and subsequent reassembly by gluing or melting along the clean, barely discernable line.
Sealing devices should also be fairly easy to remove by authorized personnel. This is usually accomplished by making a weakened area in one portion of the strap to allow for seal breakage at that point. However, this weakened area should not be highly stressed during the installation or normal use of the seal in order to alleviate the possibility of undesired breakage during installation or use. Also, in the installation, there should be an audible snap when the resilient portions of the seal are set so that the installer knows that the seal is made. The seal should also maintain a slight tension between the resilient portions and the shoulder holding them in place so that movement of the seal will not cause inadvertent release of the seal. This slight tension should also help maintain the close proximity of two or more apertures when the seal is placed in the apertures, and will discourage surreptitious reconstruction of the seal.
The seal should also have a convenience portion for placing information concerning the merchandise that is within the article being sealed and have flanges above and below the latch to keep a pick from being able to remove the seal.